Aid from Wilusa
by Jet556
Summary: Cheetara arrives in Wilusa to get aid from Gard against Pumyra and Donalbain.
1. Wilusa's Northern Gates

**Welcome everyone. This story is meant to bring Gard in to help the ThunderCats against Pumyra and Donalbain. It is also to do some world building. Enjoy and review.**

 **Wilusa's Northern Gates**

As Cheetara walked towards Wilusa's northern gates a strange expression formed upon her face. It was best described as half a smile and half a frown. Wilusa had stood for forty-five hundred years and eight times it had been either sacked or destroyed. The recent siege had taken pieces from the city. Mumm-Ra's decision to keep the Labinnac primitive had resulted in a cannonball taking the face of a statue on the left side of the gate.

Cheetara then noticed an inscription and knelt down to try and read it. Alas, she could not. She could speak the language to some extent but she could not read it. Evabon writing was not Thunderan writing, in fact the Evabon language had been a thousand years old before the Trade Language, which the animals had brought to Third Earth, even began. It should also be noted that to the Evabon there was no difference between fact and fiction, truth and legend. For all Cheetara knew, the name of this figure could have been of a fictional character but on the other hand the fictional character may have been loosely based on a real person. Cheetara was only left to wonder if Thunderans had been the same, would Mumm-Ra and technology have been regarded as just myth?

"Cheetara!" Cheetara looked up and saw Balor. He had a red loincloth twisted about his middle, typical of his attire. What were not typical were the iron armbands and brass ankle-bands he was wearing. "What are you doing here?"

Cheetara only blinked. "Balor…" She looked the eight-year-old boy over. He had the black hair the grey skin the blue eyes the right eye that only happened halfway, the thin frame the slight curve in his back… It was certainly Balor. "Why are you wearing those bands?"

"I want to." Replied Balor.

"Well, why?"

"Yaath wore them!"

"Who?"

Balor pointed at the statue on the right side of the northern gates. It was missing a nose. "He is one of Wilusa's great heroes."

"What did he do?" asked Cheetara.

"He proved many alleged traitors innocent during the Evabon-Labinnac War of the Fiftieth Lindworm."


	2. Brigid's Dress

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 **Brigid's Dress**

Amongst the Zuvowangidae was a woman. Her name was Hamyone and she was theoretically mispronouncing her own name. She was the aunt of Casca, Brigid's late father and thus Brigid's great-aunt.

Dressed in the finest of robes and using a cane that she didn't even need, this seventy-six year old Evabon woman was Wilusa's town crier and gossip. If only he grammar was that good.

"Ain't it a pity Llud has to give up being Champion of Wilusa to be chieftain of some clan?" she had asked. This day she had brought her great-niece Brigid a dress. It was a cyan dress that hung from Brigid's left shoulder and went down to her knees. Brigid was also given two bracelets made of yellow cloth. "It is me best work!" She said as Brigid tried it on. "What do you think, me dear?"

"It is very pretty." Said Brigid. "May I wear it when I join the dancers today, Auntie?"

"Join the dancers?" asked Hamyone in a huff. "Certainly not!"

"But I was learning to dance since I was three years old back in my old village!" objected Brigid.

"Your village belonged to Evabon who had converted to the Thunderan way of life." Stated Hamyone. "Amongst our people if a dancer is to earn her title then she must leap over a charging zeuster to complete her training! Bad tempered beasts that more than have killed dancers and those who try to sacrifice them to the Spirits!"

"But—"

"Enough!" Hamyone brought her cane down upon the floor of the Hall of the Zuvowangidae. "You will not be joining the dancers! Not now, not ever! If you do I shall cast you out of our hall for one whole year! Understood?" Brigid was fighting to hold back the tears caused by Hamyone's outburst. It was difficult. Brigid had wanted to continue her dance lessons for a long time but had found chores constantly getting in the way. It seemed Eukratez and Hamyone were always giving her more chores each day. Ultimately, Brigid nodded. "Good, now go and get water for Eukratez."

Brigid grabbed a jar, placed it over her head and went on her way to fetch water for Eukratez. Eukratez was a cook in the employ of the Zuvowangidae but Brigid hated being around him, fearing that if he tripped and she fell upon him his great mass would kill her.

As Brigid walked on her way to the well, Cheetara was passing the very same way. Cheetara was looking for Gard and Balor told her that Gard was meditating on the subject of the absence of Pwyll the Colossal, Balor's father. When asked where, Balor informed Cheetara that Gard was not far from Piyamaradu and immediately Cheetara knew where to look for him. The moment that Brigid was seen by Cheetara, notice was taken of the young girl's struggle to keep from crying.

"Brigid, what is the matter?" asked Cheetara, stopping to look at the girl carrying a jar over her head.

"My Auntie Hamyone." Was all Brigid said.

"What has that old busybody done this time?" asked Cheetara. Brigid explained everything and Cheetara understood the whole thing. "I'm sorry to say it, Brigid, but I agree with your great-aunt. You could end up being hurt or worse killed when you finally have to finish your training."

Brigid brought the jar she had been carrying over her head down and ran off, tears now flowing. Cheetara could only look down at the abandoned jar. Brigid would understand in time but her heart had been set on dancing and hearing twice in the same day that learning to dance would be dangerous to her had broken Brigid's little heart.


	3. Evabon Womenfolk and Brides

**Welcome back everyone. Just a bit of world-building in this chapter. Enjoy and review.**

 **Evabon Womenfolk and Brides**

Whether for her individual delectation or for the admiration of her bridegroom an Evabon gentlewoman searched always for new articles of decoration. One would cover her anatomy with damask chalk, bold colors and intermittently even color her curls a bold blonde or cerulean.

On her way to see Gard, Cheetara paused to watch as a teenaged girl colored her curls a bold cerulean. For a moment she wondered why it was either blonde or cerulean that an Evabon woman colored her hair. She then looked as a woman walked by who had covered her anatomy in damask chalk and wondered why it was just damask.

Simply put, it was what the Evabon as a whole considered the most beautiful. Out of all chalks, it was damask chalk they found the most beautiful. Out of all the colors to color hair it was a bold blonde or cerulean they found the most beautiful.

Many Evabon gentlewomen had ne'er beheld a looking glass, much less possessed one. But those who had encountered such bliss adjudged the glass as their most beloved asset.

Cheetara knew that to be true. Many times she had asked an Evabon gentlewoman what her most beloved asset was and if they had a glass then the glass was it. It was not a case of vanity, rather it was a case of it being easier to just pick up the glass than go find a pool of water to look at her reflection in.

During peacetime, an Evabon gentlewoman spent endless and absorbed homemaking hours. She dug the clay, helped assemble cabanas, cooked and distributed refections on trenchers and cared for the brood. At the end of the day, she joined the hop with equal ardor and animation. Yet even in peacetime, an Evabon gentlewoman did no forget to practice with her weapons as the use of weaponry was something done by both menfolk and womenfolk amongst the Evabon, although there were those who would not take up a weapon amongst both genders.

Looking down as she thought, Cheetara took notice of espousal cinctures on the big toe of the sinister foot of some Evabon gentlewomen. She then looked up and noticed some had long cerulean striae on the brow of some gentlewomen, indicating a happy wedlock. Cheetara next took notice of gashes near the wrist, indicating ability as a chef. To a Thunderan, Evabon womenfolk applied bizarre approaches to characterize their capacity as "bride", a term that was interchangeable for a married gentlewoman or one on her wedding day or just before and after the event.

Cheetara gave a smile. The Evabon were interesting with their many ways.


	4. Evabon Habiliments and Food

**Welcome back everyone. Some more word building in this one. Enjoy and review.**

 **Evabon Habiliments and Food**

Taking another stop on her way to meeting Gard, Cheetara watched some Evabon women and children making clothes. Evabon habiliments, though brief, were made of the inmost cortex of a certain wilderness tree that became a downy, fine cloth after being pounded on with a branch. After the cortex fabric had been stenciled or colored in gay colorations achieved from radicles, it was then designed, cut and basted.

As she watched this, she wondered why just the cortex of that tree? Surely other materials could be used. She remembered being a child and seeing clothing made of all sorts of materials and yet the Evabon made their habiliments out of the cortex of a single tree.

"Why that tree?" Cheetara asked one of the women.

"It grows within a day's time." Replied one of the women. "Because of that we can grow them without fear of ever depleting them. If you is cut down a new one grows in its place a day later but it grows so fast that it can kill one while it grows."

Cheetara shuddered at the thought of that. A tree so useful and at the same time so dangerous. She then turned to a woman who was making pudding.

"What is it made from?" she asked.

"Plantains, roe and the flesh of a certain seed." Replied the woman.

Cheetara could only frown. That was not helpful. She remembered having followed Gard through the entwined arms of the trees that formed aerial expressways throughout the wilderness. Stretching for miles in all directions, they had offered Gard uninterrupted travel. The seed could have belonged to any of those trees. It might not have belonged to a tree at all.

A cortex of one tree made clothes, another tree's big yet empty bole provided a natural silo for storage and it was possible a seed of a tree was used in pudding. The use of tree was greater than just for the making of boats and houses it would seem.


	5. Meeting Gard

**Welcome back everyone. This is short but it is something. Enjoy and review.**

 **Meeting Gard**

Cheetara found Gard and told him everything. Listening intently, Gard only spoke when Cheetara had finished.

"So, it would appear Donalbain and Pumyra are causing trouble on Mumm-Ra's behalf. You are certain they were alone with any underlings?"

Nodding, Cheetara spoke. "It was just them… Since they can't be killed as long as Mumm-Ra lives I doubt they would require any."

Gard nodded. "That does make sense. Return to the others, I will be with you in a three days."

"That quickly?" asked Cheetara in surprise.

"I know paths that you do not, Cheetara." Stated Gard. "You may have the speed but I have the knowledge of the land."


	6. Pwyll

**Welcome back everyone. After a long absence, I am back. Enjoy and review.**

 **Pwyll**

Hero, villain, father, son, outcast… All of these things were Pwyll. Pirate, thief, killer, bandit, defiler, he had made a long career of being things considered unlawful. Granted, raiding and stealing of livestock was at times considered an honorable profession but there had not been a period in Pwyll's lifetime that they would have. He had protected Piyamaradu from those who had wanted to kill him but that had only did a bit to change how others looked at him. He remembered a bit of his father Wodanaz, his look of discontent when he saw Pwyll attack weaker children and the look of shame when Pwyll would outright ignore what his father had told him. Even with his son Balor, his illegitimate son, he barely took notice of him.

He came and went from Wilusa as he pleased. It was perhaps that which caused Balor to more view Gard, father of his mother's bloodline, as his father than he did his own biological father.

Entering Wilusa, he felt some eyes on him. Whenever the ThunderCats were in Wilusa they barely caused any stares, for a known criminal on the other hand it was different. There seemed to be less people this time.

"And where exactly were you?" asked a blacksmith.

"What does it matter?" asked Pwyll in return. "I come and go as I please. I left and now I am back."

"There was a siege going on!" exclaimed a woman. "Have you no sense of loyalty to Wilusa?"

Pwyll just shrugged that off. He continued walking through the streets. Coming to the Hall of the Gardites, he entered to find Cheetara of the ThunderCats there, sitting at the table. She stared at him with cautious, untrusting eyes.

"I heard about a lot of Evabon fighting against the Labinnac in the recent siege." She said. "Why haven't I heard your name?" There was a tone to her voice that made Cheetara sound as if she were interrogating Pwyll.

"Is Balor alive?" asked Pwyll in turn.

"He is." Answered Cheetara, her tone towards him an icy one.

"Then it makes no difference if I was here." Pwyll's lack of concern caused Cheetara to glare at him. He thought little of it, he just sat down at the table grabbed a plate of unfinished meat and started eating.


	7. Son of Pwyll

**Welcome back everyone. This chapter is going to set up a later story. Enjoy and review.**

 **Son of Pwyll**

Balor was as different from his father as could be. Gard had once said most men become their fathers but even when Balor grew up he'd be nothing like Pwyll.

Walking through the streets of Wilusa, Balor searched for Brigid. She was his best friend, his arranged fiancée whom he would marry when they were both sixteen and above all else he had no idea where she even was at the moment.

Even at the young age of eight, both Balor and Brigid were in love with each other. That was good because otherwise it would make their arranged marriage very awkward. Yet even if they loved one another, Balor still had no idea where Brigid was.

As he walked, he heard a friend of his ask their parent: "What is a thag?"

The parent replied: "A less aggressive cousin of the zeuster."

Balor had seen a zeuster once. It had been one that was sacrificed and even then with it being killed it scared Balor more than a beast possibly could. He remembered Gard saying: "I have a way with beasts but even a zeuster is impossible for me."

Now the parent had said: "A less aggressive cousin of the zeuster." But what Balor had heard was "The gentle cousin of the zeuster."

"Balor!" That voice. It broke Balor's thought and he was happy he did because that voice was that of Pwyll's wife whom he had long abandoned, for all intents and purposes Balor's stepmother.

"Dejah!" Balor ran to his stepmother. She was red-skinned, in her late thirties and wearing a purple robe. She was just as he remembered since he had last seen her some months prior. He hugged his stepmother… No, he hugged his mother for she was the only mother he had. "What are you doing here? Where is Thoris?"

"Me and Thoris have decided to move here." Stated Dejah. "It is safer here than the outside world has been of late and knowing you are here now makes the choice here all the better to be closer to family."


	8. Daughter of Casca

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 **Daughter of Casca**

Brigid's father Casca had died before any of the individuals currently in her life entered it. As she cried in the corner of an alley, she wished he were here now. She wished he could say something to her Aunt Hamyone, said that Brigid could join the dancers!

"Brigid…" Brigid looked up to see Balor, her best friend and arranged fiancé whom she would marry when they were sixteen. She loved him dearly and looked forward to the day they would marry. "What is the matter?"

"Auntie said I can't be a dancer…" replied Brigid. "She fears a zeuster would kill me when I have to complete my training."

"I'm scared a zeuster would kill you also." Said Balor.

Brigid looked at Balor with a new realization of what Hamyone had been saying. If the zeuster did kill her, she'd never get to marry Balor when she turned sixteen.

"M-Maybe dancing is different in Thundera." Brigid wiped her tears away. "Maybe when the war is over I can learn there."

"What is so great about Thundera?" asked Balor. He had never given any thought about the place so he only wondered now why it had been such a great city-state. "I know that the ThunderCats come from there but why is it so important?"

"I do not know. My clan was under Thunderan influence so it must have been a good place." Stated Brigid. She was rather naïve in her view of Thundera despite her father having died because of Thunderans. She believed the proper Thunderans were good while the New Thunderans except for Hecate were evil. A black and white view that was also a naïve view.

Balor was at a loss at where to bring the conversation. The subject of the thag still on his mind he thought about asking Brigid if she had ever seen one so he asked. "Brigid, have you ever seen a thag?"

"No, I haven't." confessed Brigid. "What is it?"

"It is supposed to be a gentle cousin of a zeuster." Explained Balor. "I wonder where we might see one."


	9. Nephew of Piyamaradu

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 **Nephew of Piyamaradu**

Alaksandu was nine years old, one year older than Balor and Brigid but a year younger than his cousin Ekoto. Balor helping save Ekoto's father Piyamaradu was enough to change Ekoto's heart. The resulting exile of Alaksandu's father Pamba, Piyamaradu's younger brother and thus Ekoto's uncle, had made Alaksandu hateful to the younger boy. He was an ambitious sort, even at nine years old and noted that as Balor was Piyamaradu's apprentice that meant Balor was essentially Piyamaradu's son meaning Alaksandu had been bumped down the line of succession with Ekoto being at the top, Balor in the middle and Alaksandu at the bottom.

To become Chieftain of Evabon… That was what Alaksandu wanted. He was a vicious but patient boy, not quite right in the head, and looking for an excuse to cause conflict with the other races… At nine years old!

He had overheard Balor's inquiry about thags from the roof above. He knew a place he could send Balor… He knew a place indeed.

As Brigid and Balor walked home, Alaksandu approached the latter. "Say, Balor, I heard you were looking to see a thag!" He said this in a whisper. "I hear Gard has shown you many places."

"A lot of places!" answered Balor, Brigid getting ever farther away.

"Did he ever show you Gnozzoz?"

"He said I shouldn't go looking for it."

"He sounds smart. It is for audacious fighters like him, not kids like us."

"I'm an audacious kid!" exclaimed Balor. Still Brigid was getting further. "What is there?"

"Sorry, can't say." Alaksandu began to walk in the opposite direction.

"Alaksandu, what is at Gnozzoz?"

"Sorry, Balor, still can't say."

"Why not?"

"Balor, I honestly feel that I should be more caring in this situation." Alaksandu turned to look at his… adoptive cousin. "The Blest Thag is far too terrifying for we who are heirs to Chieftain of Evabon himself."

"The Blest Thag?" asked Balor. "That sounds interesting!"

"I shouldn't have said that." Alaksandu muttered, feigning shock. "Promise me you won't go there…" He swallowed. "C-Cousin…" It took a lot of effort for him to call Balor his cousin. As Piyamaradu's apprentice, Balor was essentially Piyamaradu's adoptive son and thus Alaksandu's adoptive cousin. There was nothing he hated more than having to acknowledge someone who was adopted as kin. It was why his sister was no longer with them.

"Sure thing." Said Balor.

Alaksandu gave a smile and walked away. The Blest Thag… What a glorious tool he could make of that beast to put him pack in the spot after Ekoto.


	10. Setting Out

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 **Setting Out**

Gard stood at the north gate of Wilusa. Waiting for Cheetara so they could set out, he looked up at the sky. The sun was shining, there were no clouds in the sky it seemed too good a day.

Holding something Kat had made for Balor, Gard could not help but smile. It was a stone circle with his likeness on it. Perhaps, things really had turned around for him.

As Balor came running past, Gard looked to his young descendant. "Looking for something, my boy?"

"Someone." Corrected Balor.

Gard grabbed Balor by the shoulder and handed him the gift from Kat. "May I inquire as to who?"

"Brigid."

Smiling, Gard remembered his own days of love so young ago. Balor and Brigid were eight years old and already love was sprouting and a good thing with them being arranged to marry when they turned sixteen. "I believe she is back at her family's hall. Where have you been?"

"Asking Sweyn about where to find a place."

"And what place would that be?" asked Gard.

"Oh, nowhere in particular." And with that Balor continued on his way.

Gard raised an eyebrow. No one asked about a place that was nowhere in particular. Still he would not pry. The only thing left to do was wait for Cheetara.

()

Balor ran to the Hall of the Zuvowangidae. Zuvowang was nursing a hangover at the dinning table, muttering: "I am getting too old for getting this crapulous." When Balor ran in, the loud footsteps of naked feet slapping against stone was torture for Zuvowang.

"Zuvowang, where is Brigid?" asked Balor.

"On this floor." Stated Zuvowang, not even turning his head to look at Balor. The siege had laid a number on him and he was finding it difficult to sleep at nights and often opted to just get crapulous until he passed out. After this he was going to be looking into something else to help him sleep.

Balor searched the floor and found Brigid taking a bath. Evabon bathes were the first on Third Earth to make use of heated water by way of water heated in a cauldron over a fire with every pipe and channel, every drain leading to that cauldron. If emptied completely into the pipes a person could be boiled alive.

Swimming and bathing were too different things. Seeing her dress and her green –two-piece outfit with a skirt on the floor, Balor swallowed nervously. This was awkward.

"H-Hi, Brigid!"

"Hi, Balor!" Brigid didn't even turn her head to look at Balor.

"Come, on I know where a grand locus is!" That was good. "Grand locus" was good. Hanging around the adults was certainly helping Balor's vocabulary.

"Balor, I'm kind of in the middle of my ablutions."

"Then finish up, get dressed and let's go!"

"This better not be any place dumb."

"It isn't, it is really excellent!"

"Ahnd jus wee is the eahwwy excewwen wocus?" Balor turned to see Brigid's aunt Hamyone behind him. Balor almost didn't know what Hamyone had said. Her speech ranged from understandable to incomprehensible depending on her mood. "Well, wee is it?" That was more understandable.

"Uh, by the Abandoned Bivouac!" exclaimed Balor.

"The Abandoned Bivouac?" asked Brigid. "I've been there! We both have! What is so great about it?"

"I'll show you when we get there." Said Balor casually.

Brigid was then clued in. "Aunt Hamyone, may I go with Balor?"

"Finish your bath and then you may." Stated Hamyone.

Balor would be setting off with Brigid for Gnozzoz, Gard and Cheetara would be setting off to help the ThunderCats. Two roads were going to be taken.

 **The End**


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